A TEAM Wales member has defended the host country of this year’s Commonwealth Games after they received criticism over the standard of athletes accommodation in the run up to this year’s contest.

Academy manager for Disability Sports Wales Gerwyn Owen, 41, from Groeslon, spent three weeks in Delhi as part of the Team Wales HQ staff at this year’s Commonwealth Games in Delhi.

As part of his role, Mr Owen was part of a group of people who were in charge of the day to day running of the team and looked after everything from accommodation standards to athletes welfare.

Father of one Mr Owen said there were some difficult problems with accommodation at the athletes village but praised the actions of local volunteers during the contest and described India as the most friendliest place he’d been to.

He said: “When we arrived we found that the rooms were all ready for us but at the end of the day, it is a third world country.

“Their standards are obviously very different to ours so we had to make sure that everything was OK for the athletes.

“All the staff there were extremely helpful and they really went out of their way to ensure we had a very positive impression of the country.

“After we arrived, we took pictures of the apartments and posted them on our Facebook page.

“We received a lot of hits on the site after that and the majority of people looking at the page were from India.

“I think they really appreciated what we were trying to do and after that they really took to us and praised what we were trying to do.

“I think there has to be a big story with every games and for Delhi, it was the accommodation.”

As well as his professional duties, Mr Owen said that Team Wales left a lasting impression on India by paying an informative visit to a school in New Delhi.

He lists cerebral palsy sufferer Jenny McLoughlin’s silver medal in the 100m run and David Green’s gold medal in the 400m hurdles as the highlight of his games.

He said: “It was also a pleasure to see Gareth Warburton (runner from Caernarfon) come fourth in the 800m.

“He’s a good friend and I think he ran a good race and just missed out on a podium position.

“I think having someone like Gareth in Team Wales shows that you don’t have to come from Cardiff to make it as a top athlete.

“It was also good for me that he was around because it’s nice to speak to someone with a Cofi accent.”

Speaking about his workload at the games, Mr Owen said: “It was very manic for the first 10 days because we were dealing with all sorts of problems.

“The security was very strict there so we had to do a lot of bagging to get supplies we needed through the gates of the athletes village.

“On the whole, the games were a fantastic experience and I am very proud with the way the team performed.”